Claire Black: This is True Girl, a podcast for girls and their moms. I’m Claire Black. Together, we’ll explore God’s truth for us one drive at a time. Buckle up! You’re about to grow closer to each other and closer to Jesus!
Have you ever had something that didn’t look like much to anyone else but it was a treasure to you? Maybe it’s a friendship bracelet a friend made just for you, a stuffed animal you’ve had forever, a note from your mom that you’ve read about a hundred times. Maybe it’s just a very special stick that you have worn smooth. It might not be worth much money, but to you, it’s priceless.
For some children, an Operation Christmas Child shoebox—packed with toys, school supplies, and personal care items, and sent with the love of Jesus Christ—can hold a simple gift that becomes …
Claire Black: This is True Girl, a podcast for girls and their moms. I’m Claire Black. Together, we’ll explore God’s truth for us one drive at a time. Buckle up! You’re about to grow closer to each other and closer to Jesus!
Have you ever had something that didn’t look like much to anyone else but it was a treasure to you? Maybe it’s a friendship bracelet a friend made just for you, a stuffed animal you’ve had forever, a note from your mom that you’ve read about a hundred times. Maybe it’s just a very special stick that you have worn smooth. It might not be worth much money, but to you, it’s priceless.
For some children, an Operation Christmas Child shoebox—packed with toys, school supplies, and personal care items, and sent with the love of Jesus Christ—can hold a simple gift that becomes a treasure.
Every year hundreds of True Girl subscribers join in by turning the boxes their True Girl resources arrived in into Operation Christmas Child shoebox gifts for girls all around the world.
Now, remember: we’ve worked with Operation Christmas Child to bring you this season. It’s based on a true story, but we’re taking some creative license to tell it to you.
Last time, Dannah Gresh and Suzy Weibel discovered one forgotten Operation Christmas Child shoebox intended for a 13 year-old girl named Izabella. They gave up their fly fishing adventure to deliver it themselves, which means . . . Right now, they’re on an airplane headed to Romania with one very closely guarded shoebox.
They have no idea what’s inside.
Can something small and ordinary really matter to God?
Here’s Suzy!
[airplane cabin noises]
Suzy Weibel: Okay. Just checking one more time. You have the box?
Dannah Gresh: I have the box. It has not left my hands since the last time you asked me, which was approximately forty-five seconds ago.
Suzy: Good. And we still agree that it does NOT go in the overhead bin.
Dannah: Yes, that is the LAST place I would put it.
Suzy: I know that. But after everything we did to get this shoebox on a plane to Romania, I’m not letting somebody’s giant roller bag squish it now.
Dannah: I have to admit, when we found it back at the processing center, I didn’t expect to be holding it at 30,000 feet a few hours later.
Suzy: And I didn’t expect to abandon Earl before our relationship even began, but here we are.
Dannah: Still thinking about that fish?
Suzy: I hope he’s happy.
Dannah: You know what I keep wondering about?
Suzy: Whether Earl is thinking about me too?
Dannah: No. What’s actually inside this box?
Suzy: Oh, yes, I’ve been wondering that too. We know it’s for Izabella, but we have no idea what somebody packed for her. It was inspected and sealed shut, so I guess it wouldn’t be appropriate to . . .
Dannah: We are definitely not opening it!
Suzy: Obviously. But we can guess. Maybe there’s a jump rope, a puzzle, a flashlight, one of those needoh squishies . . .
Dannah: Maybe it’s a pretty headband, a bracelet-making kit, a water bottle, or a little purse.
Suzy: Or a kazoo.
Dannah: Why a kazoo?
Suzy: Why not a kazoo? Izabella could be one shoebox away from discovering her musical destiny.
Dannah: Musical destiny aside, it’s funny, isn’t it? All pretty ordinary things and yet, we’ve changed our entire trip to get this box to Izabella, and we don’t even know what’s inside.
Suzy: And whatever is in there probably didn’t seem like a treasure to the person who bought it. A kazoo is just a kazoo and a needoh is just a needoh.
Dannah: Until it’s something you really long for.
Suzy: Or until someone chose it specifically for you.
[seatbelt chime]
Suzy: Okay, buckle it. We’re about to take off.
Ya know, Dannah, if we are very careful with the tape . . .
Dannah: You are not opening Izabella’s box!
Suzy: Okay, but I’m just wondering if a very gentle shake would reveal anything useful.
Dannah: Do. Not. Shake. The. Box.
Suzy: Fine. But I’m telling you, something in there sounds important.
Dannah: You haven’t heard anything!
Suzy: Exactly! It's very mysterious.
Dannah: You know, Suzy, I keep thinking about the girl who packed this box.
Suzy: What do you mean?
Dannah: I wonder if she ever thought, It’s just one shoebox. What difference can one little box really make?
Suzy: Okay, that makes sense, especially since there are so many kids in the world who need help.
Dannah: Exactly. Have you ever felt that way? Like what you have to give is so small that it probably won’t make much difference anyway?
Suzy: Oh, plenty of times.
Well, we’ve got eleven hours on this flight from Charlotte, North Carolina to Bucharest, Romania. Let’s get our Bibles out.
I’m thinking about a story in the Bible that speaks to that. Wait just one second . . .
[Bible pages turning]
Suzy: Okay, I’ve got it. Turn to John chapter 6.
Dannah: I’m there. Want me to read something?
Suzy: Yeah, verses 5–13. That’d be great.
Dannah:
Jesus soon saw a huge crowd of people coming to look for him. Turning to Philip, he asked, “Where can we buy bread to feed all these people?” He was testing Philip, for he already knew what he was going to do.
Philip replied, “Even if we worked for months, we wouldn’t have enough money to feed them!”
Then Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, spoke up. “There’s a young boy here with five barley loaves and two fish. But what good is that with this huge crowd?”
“Tell everyone to sit down,” Jesus said. So they all sat down on the grassy slopes. (The men alone numbered about 5,000.) Then Jesus took the loaves, gave thanks to God, and distributed them to the people. Afterward he did the same with the fish. And they all ate as much as they wanted. After everyone was full, Jesus told his disciples, “Now gather the leftovers, so that nothing is wasted.” So they picked up the pieces and filled twelve baskets with scraps left by the people who had eaten from the five barley loaves.
Suzy: I love that story. There are thousands of hungry people, and right in the middle of this enormous need is one boy with five little barley loaves and two fish.
Dannah: And Andrew actually looks at that little lunch and basically asks, “What good is this with such a huge crowd?”
Suzy: I mean to be fair, from a human perspective, it wasn’t enough. Not even close. But the boy offered what he did have to Jesus, and Jesus did something with it that the boy could never have done on his own.
I mean look at this. It says this about the thousands of people: “And they all ate as much as they wanted.”
And then Jesus says, “Guys go get the leftovers.”
Leftovers!
The scraps and pieces left on the ground filled up twelve baskets after thousands ate from five loaves of bread.
Jesus didn’t just feed their bodies, he fueled their faith that day!
Dannah: With five loaves and two fish! I do love that story.
Suzy: It makes me think about this shoebox. One box can’t give a gift to every child in Romania.
Dannah: But it can give a gift to one.
Suzy: Izabella.
Dannah: Exactly.
And that takes us back to Matthew 25, which we talked about that back in the processing plant. Jesus talked about giving someone food or a drink, offering clothing, or caring for someone who needs help. They were ordinary acts of love, but they mattered deeply to Him.
Suzy: Because Jesus said that when we serve someone else, we’re serving Him, too.
Dannah: Colossians 3 tells us that whatever we do, we can do it for the Lord. That means even ordinary things can become acts of worship when they’re done for Jesus.
Suzy: So don’t decide something doesn’t matter just because it seems small.
Dannah: Offer what you have and trust God with how He uses it.
Suzy: Amen!
Oh, now I’m even more curious about what somebody offered to Izabella.
Dannah: You mean what’s inside the box?
Suzy: Exactly. Because we’ve been guarding this thing like buried treasure for hours, and we still have absolutely no idea what’s in it.
Dannah: Actually, I did a little reading on Izabella’s Operation Christmas Child report while we were on the taxi ride to the airport. Remember . . . you were guarding the box with your life!
Suzy: Good division of labor—you researched, I protected.
Dannah: Well, listen to this. Izabella—like so many children in other countries—cannot openly practice the Christian faith. Just being found with a Bible could send her whole family to jail.
But when she was 7, she and her brother actually found a Bible hidden beneath the floorboards of their home.
Suzy: Whoa! A Bible under the floor?
Dannah: Yeah. And a few years later, they were invited to a church that met secretly. Izabella began learning about the Bible and believed that what she was hearing was true, but she still hasn’t really communicated a desire to surrender to Jesus, to make Him the Lord of her life.
But it looks like three months ago, she decided she wanted to start to pray to Jesus.
Suzy: Well, that’s progress. What did she pray about?
Dannah: Snow.
Suzy: Snow?
Dannah: Snow. Her pastor told her she could talk to God like a best friend and that God answers prayer, even though His answers might not always look the way we expect.
So Izabella has prayed for snow because the winters in Romania are hard and long. I guess she wanted them to be beautiful too.
Suzy: Okay, now I really need to know. Did God make it snow?
Dannah: I don’t know.
Suzy: What?! How old is that report?
Dannah: Says here it was submitted last week. As of that point she’d been praying for nearly three months.
Suzy: Did the person who packed Izabella’s box know about her prayers?
Dannah: Couldn’t have! The boxes were collected weeks ago. This report is a week old.
Suzy: Okay, so, no snow?
Dannah: I guess not.
Suzy: You cannot tell me a girl prayed for snow for three months—and then just leave me hanging!
Dannah: I guess we’ll have to wait until we get to Romania to see if it snowed this week.
Suzy: Well . . . !
Dannah: Well, what?
Suzy: Use your phone! Check the weather!
Dannah: Nope!
Suzy: Dannah!
Dannah: We’re going to Romania. Let's see for ourselves.
Suzy: What did you say . . . we have eleven hours on this plane!
Dannah: Plenty of time to practice patience! Here we go!
[airplane taking off]
Claire: Okay, Dannah can’t leave us hanging like that! Izabella prayed for snow for months, and God said . . . no? I have a feeling there’s more to this story, and I can’t wait to hear how it ends.
But today we learned something important from one boy and one little lunch: you don’t have to wait until you have something big or impressive to offer it to Jesus. Look at what He’s already put in your hands and ask, “How could I use this to love someone?” Because small acts of love can become big acts of worship when we do them for Him.
This month, we’re challenging our True Girl subscribers to use their boxes that we ship every sixty days to participate in the Operation Christmas Child shoebox drive. Just pack a box with things that might seem ordinary to you—a comb, a toothbrush, a coloring book and crayons, a Bible. Choose each gift with love, pray over your box, and trust God with where it goes. Not a subscriber? Just grab a shoebox!
You can drop those off from November 16–23 this year. Find out where to do that, and more information on the boxes, at SamaritansPurse.org/occ.
Today we learned that God can use what we’re willing to put in His hands. And the next True Girl Subscription Box gives your mom something to put in your hands: fun tools to help you open God’s Word and live it out together! With the upcoming box, you’ll dig into Philippians 2:14–15 and take our “No-Grumble November” challenge—because the words you choose can help you shine for Jesus. Learn more at MyTrueGirl.com.
If you’re not a subscriber, you might get your mom to follow True Girl on Instagram. Dannah will be posting some special ways for you to take the No-Grumble November challenge even if you don’t get the boxes.
Next time, Dannah and Suzy finally make it to Romania. And remember Izabella’s prayer for snow? Well, the answer might be closer than they think.
I’ll meet you there!
The True Girl podcast is a production of Revive Our Hearts, calling women of all ages to freedom, fullness and fruitfulness in Christ.
*Offers available only during the broadcast of the podcast season.
